Richard Lemon Lander

Lander, Richard Lemon, 1804–34, English explorer. He accompanied Clapperton to the Niger River in 1827 and brought back Clapperton's journal, which was published (1829) with an account of Lander's return to the coast. Accompanied by his brother John Lander (1807–39), he led an expedition (1830–31) to determine the course of the lower Niger and discovered that the river emptied into the Bight of Benin. The brothers published their combined journals (3 vol., 1832). Richard Lander died of wounds received on a trading expedition to the Niger (1832–34); an account of the trip was published by survivors, Macgregor Laird and R. A. K. Oldfield.